Some of the most memorable moments for British fans at recent Olympic Games have come in the modern pentathlon, a sport whose roots are firmly set in a military past of the nineteenth century.

First, there was Jim Fox leading the team to gold in Montreal in 1976. Then there was Stephanie Cook racing away in the cross-country run, the final discipline, to scoop victory in Sydney in 2000. Finally, last year in Athens, there was a splendid last-ditch effort from Georgina Harland to lift herself among the medals, into third.

Yet if Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), had his way modern pentathlon would have been dropped from the Games after Athens, a decision that would almost certainly have led to the sport's extinction.

Rogge had proposed in 2002 that three sports - modern pentathlon, baseball and softball - should be axed from the Olympics and replaced by rugby sevens and golf. As a former international rugby player for Belgium and keen fan of the game, and someone who sees the marketing possibilities of having Tiger Woods playing in the Olympics, Rogge would love to see oval balls and golf balls at the Games.

The Belgian surgeon was defeated before, but he remains determined to instigate a review of the future of the 28 sports, 301 medal events and 10,500 athletes that make up the Olympics. That is why, at the IOC's meeting in Singapore next month, he will oversee a sport-by-sport vote on the future of every one.

The media in Britain may understandably be obsessed with the vote at the same meeting to determine the venue of the 2012 Olympics. But, to IOC members, the future of the Olympic sports is a much more controversial and important subject.

Rogge repeatedly has said that no sport will be added unless one is dropped. The last sport eliminated from the Summer Olympics was polo, in 1936. But under Rogge's proposal any sport that does not receive support from at least 50 per cent of the IOC's 117 members at the Singapore vote will be dropped and replaced. Besides sevens and golf, other sports hoping for inclusion are karate, squash and roller sports.

In an email circulating to federation leaders, former sailing federation president Paul Henderson says the vote will have the effect of 'dividing and conquering IFs (international federations) by forcing them to compete with one another for their places in the Olympics'.

It is understandable, then, that those 28 sports that make up the Association of Summer International Olympic Federations (ASOIF) have pulled themselves into a circle and are desperately trying to defend their position.

Denis Oswald, leader of ASOIF, has claimed that the axeing of one sport would be 'like a house of cards. You take one card out and the whole thing might fall down.' Elimination from the Olympics would mean the loss of prestige that comes with competing at the world's largest multi-sports event, as well as considerable funding from the IOC, generated largely from television rights.

For any sport voted off the programme, the result would be financial disaster - even football, for which the Olympics is its second money-spinner after the World Cup.

A record $240million of TV money for the Athens Games was distributed among the 28 federations, an increase of about $20m from the Sydney share in 2000. The sum is expected to be higher for Beijing.

It should be no surprise, then, that Oswald made disparaging remarks last week about sevens being 'a joke' as he tried to protect the interests of his members. The suitability of golf as an Olympic sport is also questionable but the Royal & Ancient are not immune to the potential worldwide marketing impact of its inclusion in the Games.

Oswald, who is also head of the international rowing federation, claims to have been misquoted about sevens. Whether he was or not, the stance he has adopted could ultimately lead to his being diametrically opposed to Rogge, with whom, until now, he has been closely allied.

The row is threatening to undermine Rogge's position further. In the view of some members his leadership has been weakened by his refusal to reintroduce visits to bidding cities - scrapped after the Salt Lake City bribery scandal - and the tough measures he has adopted on doping and judging scandals.

Indeed, in the bars of Geneva at the ASOIF's emergency general meeting last week there was talk of a cunning plot to embarrass Rogge. It involves the IOC members voting for athletics, the marquee sport of the summer Games, not to be retained on the programme. It is a decision that would throw the Singapore meeting into chaos. It will not happen, of course, but it is a sign of how much discontent and angst this topic is causing IOC members. Forget whether the 2012 Olympics will be held in Paris or London; they are more interested in what sports are going to be played at the Games.